Grammys’ shunning of Beyoncé points to big race problem
It was a gin and tonic. That’s what I was drinking while I watched “Lemonade” flash across my sister’s TV screen for the first time in April.
It was a fairly normal day in New York. A recent transplant to the bustling city, I darted over to my sister’s apartment on the Lower East Side from my tiny Harlem space.
Both original Houstonians, we knew that whatever Beyoncé had in store for us, we had to be in attendance — and that whatever Beyoncé was releasing — whether an album or a film — would be worth the watch.
Imagine our surprise when it turned out to be both.
For one divine hour in April, my sister and I chugged away at our drinks as we watched the definition of black excellence flash across our screens. The release, on HBO, was an hour of incredible beats, rhythm, suffering, storytelling, pain and politics, and a film that connects it all.
Addicted to the artistry but also wanting to engage with Black Twitter, I went back and forth between being in awe, crying, cheering and laughing with black folks online whom I’d never met.
Not many artists are able to captivate audiences’ eyes and ears for an hour — certainly not during such a tumultuous year.
So what does Beyoncé — and other black artists, for that matter — have to do to be recognized as a credible artist worthy of the top awards?
That’s the question fans and viewers were left with after the 59th annual Grammys on Sunday, after they watched Adele repeatedly win awards that Beyoncé’s music was also nominated for.
To some Beyoncé fans, it was reminiscent of four years prior, when Bey’s self-titled record lost out to Beck’s “Morning Phase” for the Grammys’ album-of-the-year distinction.
Beyoncé and Adele are both phenomenal talents. Both women have shattered sales records, crowned Billboard charts and have owned their individuality in ways that are inspirational to women around the world.
“25,” though not my favorite Adele album — I’ve always preferred “19” — was a mega hit. But the issue with Beyoncé’s snub goes far beyond a preference in music or sales.
Adele’s triumph is unfortunate not because she is undeserving of acclaim but because her album wasn’t the best of the year, and she knew it.
Dedicating her award to Beyoncé and ultimately breaking it in two to share it was a sweet gesture, but it shouldn’t have been necessary. She and the audience knew the truth. Beyoncé deserved album of the year, but the Grammys chose whiteness over superiority.
Shunning “Lemonade” during a time when Black Lives Matter has become a necessary statement and when artists from multiple platforms are yelling out the need for more representation wasn’t just a snub, it emphasized a much bigger problem.
Black art in the main- stream has long been considered an alternative form that doesn’t deserve the same accreditations as white art. The Grammys, whether it wants to admit it or not, has an implicit bias problem.
In what should have been a definite win for Beyoncé, the Grammys showed that it values safety and whiteness over creativity, boundarybreaking and blackness.
Undervaluing R&B and rap/hip-hop artists is an antiquated practice that could spur protest if it goes unchanged. Prior to this year’s Grammys, R&B singer and rapper Frank Ocean ripped into the Grammy Awards over “cultural bias.” He noted that the process has overlooked talent including Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna and himself for top awards and is losing credibility in an evolving music scene that’s appreciating diversity.
Within the past decade, viewers have watched a generic Taylor Swift win over lyrical genius Lamar. Mumford & Sons’ adult alt-rock was deemed more impressive than Ocean’s neo-soul.
The only black women who have won album of the year are Natalie Cole (“Unforgettable … With Love,” 1992), Whitney Houston (“The Bodyguard” soundtrack, 1994) and Lauryn Hill (“The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill,” 1998). The supposed top musical awards ceremony is ignoring its constituents by getting caught up in tradition and favoring privilege.
Neglecting the artistry and brilliance of black artists and limiting black art to categories such as “urban contemporary album” and best R&B performance extends the detrimental and racist practice of attributing excellence to whiteness.
Music sales, industry heads and the constituents the Grammys claim to acknowledge know that that simply isn’t true.
Kayla Stewart is a writer and educator. Originally from Houston, she is teaching English in Indonesia and is based in New York. This article orginally appeared on Gray Matters.